


Stronger

by vamptramp0348



Category: Little Fires Everywhere (TV 2020)
Genre: Adulthood, F/F, Five Years Later, Healing, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, One Shot, Reunions, Road Trips, Teen Pregnancy, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:54:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24739579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vamptramp0348/pseuds/vamptramp0348
Summary: Five years after Izzy ran away she's heading back to Shaker to reunite with her family unable to forget all that happened but curious as to what has changed, it's a peek into her life as an adult and what happened to her after the finale.
Relationships: Izzy Richardson/Original Female Character
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	Stronger

A loud exhale but hopefully it wasn't loud enough to wake her sleeping boy in the back. Izzy looked into the rear view mirror to check on him and she gave a small smile in the reflection he was conked completely out. They would have been on the road sooner but she had to work her shift at the diner, money was money. Izzy kept telling herself it was temporary, she was almost finished with night school and would soon be starting a career, one where she hoped she would be making a difference in the lives of teenagers. Teenagers that were very much like her, she wanted to be a helping hand and a safe space for them to vent and feel cared for much like Mia was for her.

It had been five years since she left Shaker but she would never forget Mia Warren and how she blazed a trail right through her family and town. Izzy was hoping her son was going to be a girl so she could honor Mia with the name but she got a boy and named him Jordan but the car, a fire engine red hatchback (and she made sure she found one sad it wasn't blue but red felt more fierce) and named it Mia.

She didn't know why she was returning but it was something her girlfriend Avery encouraged her to do since her dad had at last managed to track her down. Izzy wondered what had happened the night after she left and the years that followed, she wondered if they went back to their normal privileged selves. Did everyone get along a lot better off without her? She knew only that her dad and mom had split, he exhausted lots of money to find her so she felt as if she at least owed it to him to come. 

Izzy looked over forlornly at the empty passenger's seat she begged Avery to come but Avery convinced her it would be best if she didn't take all the attention away from her and Jordan. She already had a feeling what her mother would say about Jordan, she'd be disgusted that Izzy became a teen mom but it wasn't her choice.

Upon exiting the bus with very little funds she ended up at a homeless shelter where she was raped and robbed in the middle of the night. She never saw her assailant's face but she would always remember the sound of his voice. Izzy was terrified of becoming a mother and the fact he was given to her from a traumatic experience made her consider abortion but she would hear Mia's voice, Izzy was all alone and her baby was everything she had. 

Izzy fled the clinic in tears she wound up nearly being run over by a blue pick-up truck which turned out to be Avery, she was on her way to the vet to take her dog for an emergency. It wasn't exactly love at first sight but Avery was kind to her, a little bit older but also more experienced.

She helped Izzy start the long journey of healing, helped her get her GED, a job and into night classes to become a counselor. Avery a nurse, played music in her free time and painted. She brought the creativity back out of Izzy and even got her to pick up an instrument again. Together they were raising Jordan even though they would occasionally be bothered by some bigot in a grocery store and Izzy would go to lose her temper but Avery the ever wise one would just simply kiss her until she would laugh.

Izzy loved her life and the thoughts of her family and Shaker had faded until Avery got a call from Izzy's father. Izzy was at work at the time and Avery rushed into the diner dragging little Jordan by the hand to give her what Avery believed would be good news. She vowed never to return but the curiosity of how they had all changed taunted and teased her, Avery assured her everything would be okay and if it weren't she was as free as a bird to get in the car with Jordan and high tail it back.

Jordan was five and in school, they were asked to do a family tree project but Izzy couldn't answer a lot of questions especially about his father but taking him to Shaker he would see just where his mother came from. Her dad had said that the family was going to be back together just to see her, Izzy found that hard to believe the narcissitic Lexie thinking of anyone other than herself or Trip who never really encouraged or cared for Izzy but she did want to see Moody. Izzy thought several times about reaching out to him but she feared he would tell their mother where she was. And lastly Elena who admitted she never wanted Izzy to begin with, did she still feel that way? 

She never did bother to look for Izzy it of course was left up to her father, Izzy had to pull the car over at a rest area she began to feel light headed and nauseous. Taking deep breaths she began tear up she pulled out her flip phone and dialed home.

"Hey babe everything okay?" 

A smile broke across Izzy's face "Yeah I just needed to stop and rest I'll be there in a day or so but I just got up in my head. I really wish you were here, I don't know if I can face any of them alone"

"You won't be alone, Jordan will be with you. He's your anchor baby and if Elena gives you any shit you look her square in the face and tell her that you're a way better mother than she ever was to you! And if your stuck up sister gives you any shit you remind her that she chose to terminate her child's life while you soldiered on. Izzy you are an incredible person and it sucks you weren't born with the right kind of people who could see it but I do and Jordan sees it too. You can do this, you can go back there with your head held high because you didn't fall apart because they didn't love you properly, you blossomed. They burned your world to the ground and yet you flourished, if they never say it then dammit I will - I am so proud of you..."

Izzy let out a sob as tears began to fall graciously she needed to hear every last word "Do you hear me?"

"Yeah I hear you, thank you for saying it. I can do this, I'm going to go back there and show them that I didn't need them that in fact I was better off without them"

"That's my girl, now get some rest make sure you lock the car okay?"

"Will do, I love you"

"I love you more"

Izzy was smiling and crying when she hung up she looked back at Jordan then reached across the backseat for a spare blanket and draped it over him, she was very proud of how she turned out. She locked the doors and reclined her seat with her eyes fixated on her son as she began to drift off into a dream possibly of what a reunion with her family would be like but good or bad Izzy knew she was stronger than whatever would be thrown at her.


End file.
